Men In Black Suits

Ya'll remember, way back in '07, when I wrote a little goofy parody, that sort of got stuck, and never came un-stuck?

Well, it finally did. You can finally find out what in the hell happened with Sam in the bathroom!

Since I'm broke, I'm selling it. Don't worry, it's cheap, only 99 cents. I get less than half of that, but let's face it, it's a short story. It also provided a handy dry run for when I publish Jane... and I've learned a few things that will make that process go much smoother, so it's a net win.

As a side note, no, it's not published under FarmGirl. It's also not published under my real name. Plenty of people out there know who I am, now, but I always planned on publishing Jane under a nom de plume, and this particular one happens to let me honor people that I dearly love at the same time. That dizzy last name? It's pronounced "Dahzee."

Get it at Amazon or Barnes and Noble for your favorite e-reader or e-reader app.

Enjoy!

Jane

I'm working on finishing Jane, I have a couple of chapters past what I last published on the blog and I'm getting on towards wrapping it all up.

What I'm going to do, is e-publish the entire thing when it's done. That way everyone gets the whole story.

Money is tight right now so the extra income will be very welcome, as well.

Watch this space, folks. The long, long, long wait is coming to an end.

April... Showers?

Yeah, it snowed. That second picture is the drift that was in front of my car in the driveway, you can see where my bumper was. Got dug out to where I can get out of the driveway and theoretically into the street, though plowing the street doesn't appear to be a priority for the city, so there's tire tracks in slush a foot deep all the way across the street. I have to go to work in about thirty minutes, so this ought to be interesting.

Why We Don't Have Blogorado In Spring

Sunday, it was over 80 degrees. Monday, it was 40 or lower. Today we have two feet of snow or more, and still coming down.

It's officially spring, Colorado has gone bipolar. Ahhh, home sweet home.

Turtle!

So, shortly after the move, DM's former boss called, regarding a turtle a tennant had left in an apartment. It hadn't been cared for in some time, but was still alive, and came with a tank and filter.

Me being the softie I am, of course I took it. Turned out to be a female red eared slider, who started perking up with proper care. Or, I thought she was perking up and being a normal happy turtle.

I found out otherwise when I put feeder fish in her tank. She went batty for them, and it changed her behavior... made her more active, she basked more, and just generally seemed to be overjoyed at the chance to hunt something.

Since at the time I didn't know there was anywhere in town to get feeders, an eighty mile one way trip to pick them up regularly at the rate she was going through them seemed sort of... excessive.

So, I made a plan, talked to some fishy friends, and settled on breeding platties. Got the tank and the fish now, so the project is officially underway. Platties have several benefits, really, they're livebearers which breed easily, they're prolific, hardy, and as an extra bonus, they're pretty, so they're nice to look at, too.

Since I'm sort of a dork, the breeding experiment is sort of fun in it's own right, and feeding the turtle for cheap is sort of awesome.

More updates as things develop, and pictures of the turtle probably forthcoming once her shell fully recovers from not being able to get dry for so long and she looks less like she has leprosy.

Farmdad and I took a little trip out to see Evyl Robot and Jennifer and participate in the First Annual Central Oklahoma Gunblogger Shutenfest.

We all met up at the Robot family compound on Friday night for Smoked Chicken and Leg of Lamb. We visited, ate, drank and made plans for Saturday. Saturday morning we all headed out to Super Secret Location for an awesome time turning money into smoke and noise. The location was absolutely beautiful, the weather was excellent (maybe a little warm at times but I'm sure not complaining ) and the company was outstanding!

Once again on Sunday we headed out to the range site and had another fantastic day. Who can complain when you have Tannerite, Barretts and stampeding dinasaurs? We made splody targets out of everything including the kitchen sink! Stay tuned to Jennifer and Evyl's blogs for photos and videos.

Thank you Jen and Evyl for such a wonderful weekend! Now I must recover from my get away so life can get back to normal. I hope everyone there had as much fun as we did.

Jewels

Mamaw left me her jewelery. She also left me her jewelery box, which is good, because without it, I would be sitting in a pile of earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings, and miscellaneous keepsakes about three feet high.

We're talking about a free-standing box that comes about to my chest, is about a foot square, and is full.

We're also talking about a collection of small, dresser-top jewelery boxes from various and somewhat random female relatives that has filtered down through the women of that side of the family.

It's a lot of stuff.

Mamaw's big box is full of memories for me. When I was little, she would pull out a drawer and we would put stuff on, she would tell me stories about everything in there. Where she got it, who it belonged to before her, or just why she liked it.

Most of those stories I can't remember. I wish I could, I really do. Mostly I remember how much fun we had, in front of that box and at the table with the box that held the wedding sets, and the pearl earrings she let me wear to prom, and the giant diamond rings she wanted to tie to Etta's bridle for the show my last year at college. None of the rest of us would help her figure out how to do it, for fear of losing them.

I remember how much she enjoyed her pretty things, all her big colorful earrings, the black hills gold, and tons of Avon pieces. I've sorted through everything and organized it, to some degree, and remembered all the while. I have my great uncle's airborne wings and his dress hat pin. I have the necklace I brought her from Hawaii, and the black pearl set mom picked out for her there. I have Sugar's volunteer badge, and the pins the hospital gave her to honor her for all the time she gave.

I have the ring that didn't come off her finger for years, until it just didn't fit anymore.

Some of it fits, some of it doesn't. Some of the latter I'll get sized. I've been wearing a few pieces now and then, but I'll never wear it all. There's more earrings than I know what to do with.

Mom told me to go through it and keep what I wanted, and anything I didn't want, take to her, and she and SIL would go through and take what they wanted.

I can't do it though. Some of the stuff that was in there clearly should go to other people. Dad's first hunting license he's already got. All of the baseball cards I found went to my brother... that was him and Mamaw all the way. There's a ziplock full of stuff that should go to other members of the family. There's another with broken bits, old beads, single earrings, that will go to someone who can make them into something beautiful that will be worn again, because I think Mamaw would like that.

The rest of it.... I can't. I can't bring myself to pick and choose, not yet anyway. She wanted me to have it and part of me is overwhelmed, and wouldn't mind having a little less. Another part of me can't stand the idea of giving away any of it, whether I ever wear it or not. All of that stuff... it was her. Not just hers, I'm not quite that sentimental... it was her. It's all pieces of her life, or Sugar's, or someone else she loved. So much of the stuff in the big box, you can just look at it and know, that was her.

I've cried more going through this stuff than anyone knows, and laughed sometimes while I did. Because it's all her. It's that crazy, freaky, outrageous woman, right there in that box. I can almost hear her telling me to pile it on, when I pick out pieces to wear for the day. Hear her sigh when I shuffle through the earrings and pass them over.

She's in there, in that ridiculously large jewelery box. I just can't give that away. I don't know if that will ever change, either.

For now, though, all of that stuff is just fine where it is.